CD Review: Winter on the Great Divide

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

By Richard Anderson

‘Winter on the Great Divide’
Anne and Pete Sibley
www.AnneAndPeteSibley.com

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-How do you make a good Christmas album? There are a couple ways. You can try to do something to make the songs fresh – jazz them up, slow them down, bring out latent meanings. Of course you risk completely screwing up some perfectly good and even absolutely revered tunes by taking that tack, so you better have a strong concept and know what you’re doing.

Another route is to just bring yourself to the tunes – your heart and soul and whatever it is that makes you sincerely singular – and hope that that is enough to make new and novel your versions of “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” “Silent Night” and these other songs that have been recorded 10,000 times or more. That’s a safer way that has resulted in some of my favorite Christmas albums by the likes of Frank Sinatra, Loose Ties, Diana Krall and many others.

And it works for Anne and Pete Sibley, too, on their contribution to the Christmas genre, “Winter on the Great Divide.” Short, sweet, free of gimmick or glitz, the Sibley’s brand new disc consists of 10 renderings of songs of the season – the chestnuts mentioned above, plus “The First Noel” and “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” as well as a gorgeous a cappella duet of the 15th-century carol “Lo, How A Rose E’re Blooming,” a nicely reserved Appalachian take on “Cold Frosty Morning,” and several others – and one original, the title track, penned by Anne.

The set is sparse but not stark, tranquil but not frozen, glistening but not precious. The only guest performer is the ubiquitous Ben Winship, bringing his mandolin, bouzouki, tenor guitar, bass and vocals to just four tracks (and also co-producing in his Henhouse Studio in Victor, Idaho). The result is an album that respects both the music and its wide, wide audience, reverent Christians and observant pagans alike.

Anne is in typically fine form, bringing her homey country twang to some of the songs and her lullaby hush to others. And Pete sounds very good, too, bring solid instrumental work to the proceedings. His vocal harmonies seem to work especially well in this stripped-down setting. Quiet and still as the bleak midwinter itself, the disc never flies high – the closest it comes to that is a slightly more up-tempo “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” and a downright rousing (relatively) “Gloucestershire Wassail” – but it aptly reflects the mood of the season and the charm and talents of these two local favorite musicians.

Of course, the other thing that makes a Christmas album great is personal meaning, i.e., nostalgia. In that regard, Sinatra and even Loose Ties have an unfair advantage, since we’ve had years, even decades, to make them part of our Christmas tradition. But as well loved as they are by Jackson Hole’s acoustic music community and its extended family of fans, Pete and Anne are well-poised to some day find themselves so ensconced, too, given time.

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CD Review: Winter on the Great Divide | Planet JH News Article: General Music Arts and Culture

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